BBC defiant over Gaza tv appeal

Sunday 25 January 2009 00:01 BST

The BBC is holding firm over a decision not screen an emergency appeal for Gaza despite mounting pressure to do so.

A string of politicians including senior government ministers have urged the corporation to reconsider its stance, while its rival terrestrial broadcasters ITV, Channel 4 and Five said they would show the advert for the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). Thousands of people also demonstrated outside the BBC's Broadcasting House in London on Saturday.

The DEC - which brings together several major aid charities including the British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam - wants the appeal to be broadcast on TV and radio from Monday to help raise millions of pounds for people in need of food, medicines and shelter following Israel's three-week assault on the Palestinian territory.

DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley has voiced disappointment at the BBC's decision, and the Charity Commission on Saturday night repeated its call on the the broadcaster to show the appeal. It also urged Sky, which is currently considering its position, to lend its support.

BBC Trust chairman Sir Michael Lyons voiced concern that comments made by politicians were coming close to "undue interference" in the BBC's editorial independence.

Director general Mark Thompson has rejected a plea from International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander to screen the appeal, warning that a broadcast could compromise the impartiality of the BBC's reporting from the Palestinian territory.

On Saturday night Mr Thompson wrote in a BBC blog: "The danger for the BBC is that this could be interpreted as taking a political stance on an ongoing story. When we have turned down DEC appeals in the past on impartiality grounds it has been because of this risk of giving the public the impression that the BBC was taking sides in an ongoing conflict."

But his argument was dismissed as "completely feeble" by health minister Ben Bradshaw, while Communities Secretary Hazel Blears called on the BBC to review its decision and urged the public to continue donating to the DEC appeal.

Britain's first Muslim minister Shahid Malik warned that the Corporation's decision would be seen around the world as "one which inflicts still further misery on the beleaguered and suffering people of Gaza".

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, added in a statement: "This is not a row about impartiality but rather about humanity. By declining their request, the BBC has already taken sides and forsaken impartiality."